Events planned for MLK Day

Parade set for Monday

Gataveo Simmons, 14, of Little Bethel Baptist Church marches down West Main Street during the 2014 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day parade in Downtown Statesboro.

W 012014 MLK PARADE 02 — Gataveo Simmons, 14, of Little Bethel Baptist Church marches down West Main Street during the 2014 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day parade in Downtown Statesboro.

Several community events are planned in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, and Bulloch County NAACP President Pearl Brown hopes to encourage people to “unite as God’s children.”

A prayer breakfast, an afternoon parade and a community-wide service hopefully will bring people of all races and walks of life together in harmony and “working together,” she said.

The prayer breakfast, sponsored by the Bulloch County Youth Council, also will serve as a fundraiser for the group, which “operates under the umbrella of the NAACP,” Brown said. The meal will be served at 8 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 14, at St. Matthews Catholic Church, with Lameisha Hunter, Rincon’s city planner, as guest speaker. The cost is $10.

The parade is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 16, at 2 p.m., with more than 100 units expected to participate, Brown said.

“We never know exactly how many, because some sign up at the last minute, and it depends on when the Georgia Southern University students get back and what other events are planned,” she said.

Led by Pastor Donald Chavers as grand marshal, the parade will move downtown beginning on North Main Street and following West Main to MLK Drive. Local businesses, beauty queens, classic cars, dignitaries and dance groups will be featured in the lineup, and floats should adhere to the theme “One Nation Under God, Working Together,” Brown said.

After the parade, a community-wide service will take place a 3 p.m. at Elm Street Church of God, with former Georgia state Rep. Dee Dawkins-Haigler as speaker.

All events are sponsored by the Bulloch County NAACP, and everyone is invited, Brown said.

“We are trying to have unity with everyone,” she said. “We encourage people to participate in the events, to come together and talk about how all of us benefit from working together. We are all one and need to learn to work together so everybody can prosper and do well.”

For more information on the activities or the Bulloch County chapter of the NAACP, contact Brown at (912) 481-8914 or (912) 682-4917.

Herald reporter Holli Deal Saxon may be reached at (912) 489-9414.